Open bottom culvert?

[RobA]

I don't know about that. I put in a 20 foot long 48" culvert last year in my creek.

That's what I'm looking at doing - 42" or 48" x 20'. An open bottom culvert sounded interesting since I thought the width was more important than the height. Cutting a 10' culvert in 1/2 would give me a 20' culvert 48" wide. The fish are not the concern but having the culvert wash out is. Perhaps putting the culvert 6-10" down in the creek bed would help the water pass through and lessen chances for erosion at the bottom.

 

[KennethBrown]

Now I'm taking it out of the thread but back into it at the same time........... On mine I very slightly scraped the bottom to creat a reccession for the culvert, maybe 2" at the most. Layed the pipe in and started backfilling a little at a time. Before the fill I put a t-post on each side and end to hold it steady, didn't exactly do that but it showed me how bad it would have moved if I hadn't. I used limestone road base (72 tons!) since I needed to make **** sure it wasn't going anywhere. Put the fill in slowly and work it with a shovel/rake/chipper bar/whatever. You want to pack it into ALL of the crevices. A water source here helps tons. After you get most of the fill in ya gotta build funnels/retaining walls on the end. This is not an option if the creek evr has water flow through it, its mandatory, and yes on both sides. I figured it didn't matter on the outflow side, WRONG! I have had one washout and it was on the outflow. The water will churn in a circle when it leaves the culvert and eat away at you riprap till it gets to your fill and then start on it. I used some cheap recycled plate steel for mine along with used pipe driven into the ground to hold it. After you get these in you will need riprap. I used bricks as I had about 12 yds of old ones in a pile out back. Layed them in by hand to my satisfaction. Then I poured a couple of bags of dry concrete into the crevices. Next I mixed concrete in a bucket with the creek water and slathered it onto/in/around everwhere. It was a lot of work to do by myself ( a little help from my dad setting the pipe) but the results were well worth it. This creek basicly blocked me from my land. I have 36 acres and could only use about 5-6 of it unless I went by horse or foot. Now we can travel all the time.

PS- My creek is about 6-7 foot deep. This was put in in an old crossing. Some times during BIG rains the water level is about 1 1/2-2 foot above the road/culvert. Two years now and I've lost maybe 2 yds of rock.

 

[KennethBrown]

One thing I forgot to add. The cost will be lots cheaper to get the 48" in 20' long than the 10' in 10' long. Mine ran about $700.

 

[RobA]

..... On mine I very slightly scraped the bottom to creat a reccession for the culvert, maybe 2" at the most. Layed the pipe in and started backfilling a little at a time..............

Great description. That sounds like what I was envisioning. This is all new to me and I have heard of many horror stories about culverts washing out. My creek does not have as much water as yours but there's enough to do damage. I want to do it right and have been a little intimidated and have delayed doing it. Like you the creek cuts off a lot of my acreage.

If you took pictures along the way I'd love to see them. Even the finished project would be great to see. Thanks for posting.

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds like standard box culvert to me. The GC I work for has used this as a bridge for vehicular trasffic, orver wetlands ( per county and state engineer and plans on specs ). Headwalls are typically poured 'in place' . It's a common structure...

Soundguy